Monday, October 4, 2010

Happy October, Parishioners and Subjects! It's shaping up to be a busy month, and I wanted to give you all a brief rundown of the various Vicarage Newsletter items that you might need to know as we press forward into this month of monsters and madness...

First of all, Code Red DVD is apparently shutting its doors in 2011, an event all lovers of the mad should mourn. They're going out with a bang though, as they've just released the long-promised and salivated-over 30th Anniversary Edition DVD of mine and the Duke's favorite slasher of the 80s, Joe Giannone's 1982 mmmmmasterpieceMADMAN. We love the movie with a burning fiery passion, so much that we made it the subject our our landmark 100th review (which you can read right here). The crown jewel of the disc's presentation is a 92-minute documentary on all things Madman, which I personally can't wait to digest. You can get your DVD on Amazon today, so what are you waiting for?

BUT WAIT, THAT'S NOT ALL-- In addition to the aforementioned drool-worthy documentary, included on the Madman 30th Anniversary disc is a featurette that...erm...features many notables and unknowns alike performing their own musical renditions of the haunting "Ballad of Madman Marz."Among those featured--The Vicar of VHS himself! Yes, I'm as excited as a Frenchman who just invented self-removing trousers to have made the cut with my fanboy warblings, and doubtless so are you. As if you needed another reason! NOW HOW MUCH WOULD YOU PAY?

Any parishioners and other interested parties who will be in the NY area of the United States this weekend should note that they just *might* have the chance to rub shoulders with one-half of the Mad Movie Team, as your ever-lovin' Vicar will be attending theNew York Comic Confor the first time. (As a fanboy, not as a panelist...yet.) I'll be hanging with other horror blogging luminaries in the area too famous to name-drop here, and hoping to complete my collection of Coffin Joe Comics at last. So if you're going to be there or somewhere nearby, drop me a line and let me know, either on Facebook or via email at vicarofvhs[at]gmail[dot]com!

September 6 was the first post-mortem birthday of this blog's patron saint Paul Naschy, who died in November of 2009 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. October has plenty of stuff going on already, but to mark the great man's passing and the importance of his body of work, the Duke and I are tentatively planning for November our first-ever Paul Naschy Blogathon. If you are a blogger or artist or musician or some other stripe of Naschyfile and would be interested in participating, let me know at the aforementioned contact spots. More details as they become available.

So Vicarious blogging will be a little slow next week while I'm on the road, though I may be able to update the twitter or facebook feeds occasionally (Keep Watching the Skies!)--however the Duke has something up his frilly sleeves, I know, so keep an eye out for that. And Happy Samhain!

@Emily--You may have mentioned it, but some things bear repeating! Don't tame your excitement! Let it RUN WILD! I too am a-quiver with anticipation at the prospect of belting out a few tunes among such esteemed horror bloggerati!

@Billy--Yes, that indeed does suck. It's a tough row to how for the independent distributor. Code Red put out some really great stuff though, like MADMAN and another of my favorite movies, MESSIAH OF EVIL. They can hold their heads high, imo.

@Cinema Du Meep--I've got the Anchor Bay dvd too, but that version has 100% LESS Vicar-ious Musical Stylings! If anything makes it worth the double-dip, it's that! Well, and the documentary. :P

@Jack--If you've never heard of MADMAN, you *need* it. You're in for a real treat imo!

I think Code Red was one of the finest of the indie releasing companies. Shoot, The Strangeness alone made me fall for them. I will still get to have my beloved The Visitor on DVD. Vicar, if you have not, you MUST see this gem. It was made for you.